PREVIEW: Sequel 2: Ark's Beginning

Sequel developer is ready to “eat some humble pie.”

Our controversial one-word review of 2006’s Sequel says it all: “What?” How else to describe a game that starts you with two-thirds of your health gone, fighting a gigantic robot crab that takes only one hit to defeat? The ambitious title left confused critics and gamers with a host of burning questions: Who is this dude I’m playing as? Why does he have no head? Where am I supposed to go? And how the hell do I control him? Thankfully, Sequel developer Perplex Games are back with a new game, Sequel 2: Ark’s Beginning, that promises to answer everything.

“I’ll be honest with you,” say Sequel producer Montgomery McFate as soon as we enter his office. “I’m ready to eat some humble pie.”

“The concept behind the first Sequel game was simple,” he continues. “What game hasn’t been bettered by its sequel? So why not just go straight to the next game in the series? And that’s what we tried to do.” McFate smiles sheepishly. “Maybe we went too far.”

Maybe is right. The first Sequel dropped players into the game mid-fight, with no documentation on how to fight or why it was you were fighting. Diligent players swapped discovered combos on message boards, but even the most dedicated fans couldn’t tease out the indecipherable story. So how will Sequel 2 be different?

“It’s a prequel, for starters,” McFate says. And that means backstory. Turns out the protagonist has a name: Ark. As a boy, Ark was decapitated in an industrial accident, which explains why he has no head. But why does he fight?

“I don’t want to give away too much here,” a coy McFate answers. “Let’s just say there’s a wrong that must be righted, and he is humanity’s last hope to save the world.”

Good enough for us. But enough about story – how does the new game play? McFate boots up a level that takes place in a derelict city. We immediately notice the scale of the game has been increased, with a new sense of verticality. And even at this early stage, the textures and lighting effects make us blink twice to be certain we’re seeing the real thing. Ark runs up to a smoldering car (fire in this level pervades), and a button prompt appears that allows him to – surprise! – take cover.

“We realized after the first Sequel shipped that there was considerable room for improvement,” McFate explains. “We now have an extensive cover system. Ark can fire blindly or aim with precision at the expense of exposure. He can also now jump over small objects like curbs and such.”

On screen, Ark fires at a red barrel, which explodes spectacularly. “Exploding barrels are another innovation,” he says. “We think gamers are going to have a lot of fun with these. Get a few barrels close together and you’ll start a chain reaction!”

Ark has now reached a cul-de-sac. The pounding orchestral score fades away, and all one can hear is a dull rumbling in the distance. As the rumbling gets louder, the screen starts to shake. Suddenly a gigantic robot crab appears!

And the screen goes black.

“Got to leave something for the sequel,” McFate says with a sly smile.

Sequel 2: Ark’s Beginning is scheduled to release in Spring 2009.